A regulation adopted last fall by the elected officials of Les Cèdres is causing quite a stir on social networks as the summer season officially gets underway. Young people wishing to play on their street will have to submit a request via a form and obtain the approval of two-thirds of the neighborhood in order for the street to be designated as a free play area. 

More specifically, the aim is to allow free play areas to be set up on streets or street sections that meet certain criteria. To do so, official authorization must be obtained from the municipal administration before children can take to the public highway to play. 

It should be noted that two-thirds of the neighborhood included in the play area must agree with the request for it to be accepted. To submit a request to the municipality, fill out a form available on the Cedars website, and your request will be analyzed. 

On its social networks, the Municipality has specified the positive points of this bylaw, namely: 

- Opportunity to create specially designed free-play areas in residential neighborhoods;

- Permissive measures to encourage children to play and socialize;

- Signage and street lining to secure dedicated areas.

The bylaw was adopted in the wake of Bill 122 as well as the modification Code de Sécurité routière, which since 2017 allows municipalities to adopt a bylaw to allow free play on streets.The Highway Safety Code prohibits free play in the streets and this is still the case, but, Municipalities have new powers to authorize it according to criteria, explains Cedars General Manager Jimmy Poulin by email.He adds that the bylaw is in no way intended to prohibit street play.Young people can go about their activities as usual. Rather, it aims to designate areas with a higher level of safety, adding “in a context where road safety and motorist delinquency are issues for all municipalities, this by-law makes it possible to designate areas where the safety of children playing in the street is established at a higher level (signage, layout, parking limited to one side of the street (visibility), etc.)”.

The new regulations would give citizens the power to decide which street zone in their neighborhood would become a well-defined Free Play area, with appropriate facilities.

With this new regulation, citizens are given the power to decide which area of the street in their neighborhood should become a well-defined open-play area, with appropriate facilities. In order to ensure democratic recognition of a zone to be designated an open-play area, a majority of citizens, i.e. 2/3 of the neighborhood included in the area, must agree with the request addressed to the Municipality.

"The Municipality's intention with this by-law is to ensure that a safe level of free play in the street, with its advantages and constraints, is agreed upon and recognized by the citizens of the neighborhood in specific zones. Of course, the aim is not to override or insist on the prohibition of free play in the streets, even if the Highway Safety Code de facto prohibits it, but rather to ensure greater safety for children in every neighbourhood of Les Cèdres.In short, it's about highlighting a democratic approach offered to citizens for each neighborhood, enabling them to choose and delimit areas for free play with the aim of increasing safety for our children", he concludes.